Mortarboard blog + Biology | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/education/mortarboard+science/biology
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Creationism and science teaching don't mixhttp://www.theguardian.com/education/mortarboard/2008/dec/22/creationism-science-schools
A third of science teachers believe creationism should be taught alongside evolution. Where's the logic in that, asks Tim Radford<p>On the brink of 2009, in the year that the reasoning world celebrates 200 years from the birth of Charles Darwin, and 150 years since the publication of On the Origin of Species, a poll has just discovered that one in three British science teachers think that creationism should be taught alongside evolutionary theory and the Big Bang.</p><p>Creationism was in fact once standard teaching in schools. It was called <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/religiousstudiesandtheology" title="">religious education</a>, and my own view is that holy writ should be taught, even in secular schools. If you don't know anything about Judaism and Christianity, about Moses and the Book of Job and the Evangelists, then Dante, Milton, Leonardo da Vinci and Caravaggio will be deprived of most of their meaning. It was taught in Catholic and Church of England schools, of course, because both parents and teachers – and sometimes even their pupils – believed holy writ to be just that, divinely inspired: not always literally true, but rewarding in some spiritual and philosophical sense.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/mortarboard/2008/dec/22/creationism-science-schools">Continue reading...</a>SchoolsReligious studies and theologyTeachingEvolutionCharles DarwinControversiesCreationismReligionWorld newsBiologyTue, 23 Dec 2008 00:05:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/education/mortarboard/2008/dec/22/creationism-science-schoolsTim Radford2008-12-23T00:05:01ZWhy did Reiss have to resign?http://www.theguardian.com/education/mortarboard/2008/sep/17/science.religiousstudiesandtheology
Research shows the professor was right. Teachers should engage with all students, including creationists<p>John Denham, secretary of state for Innovation, Universities and Skills argued in this week's Education Guardian that &quot;as a society, we have a duty to seek out and nurture the talent of our young people irrespective of their social background, and the same must apply to our educational institutions&quot;.<br /> <br />This seems to contradict the stance taken by the Royal Society in forcing the resignation of Prof Michael Reiss from his position as part-time director of education on secondment from his post of professor of science education at the Institute of Education, University of London. </p><p>From all the media evidence, it appears that Reiss's argument that science teachers need to be aware of their students' faith, social and cultural backgrounds in teaching evolutionary biology were ignored in favour of a particular scientific stance. <br /><br />The Royal Society, supposedly representing the very best of research in science, bowed to pressure from a small number of its fellows. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/mortarboard/2008/sep/17/science.religiousstudiesandtheology">Continue reading...</a>ScienceReligious studies and theologySchoolsEvolutionScienceEducationBiologyWed, 17 Sep 2008 15:44:20 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/education/mortarboard/2008/sep/17/science.religiousstudiesandtheologyTetsuro Matsuzawa/APA chimpanzee named Ayumu takes a memory test at the Primate Research Institute in Kyoto, Japan. Photograph: Tetsuro Matsuzawa/APMiriam David2008-09-17T15:44:20Z